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New Sheffield star David Bellego reveals his passion to be a French champion and his backing from Manchester City school pal. By PHIL LANNING OOH LA TIGER! HE Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysees and The Louvre. TBut when you swap catwalks for trackwalks, there has been little ooh la la or triumphs for the throttle twisters. In fact, France has remained one of the least fashionable nations over the years. Paris is the centre of the romance and fashion world, strutting its stuff for the suave and sophisticated. Yet suddenly they have been starting to show some va va voom with the likes of David Bellego, Dimitri Berge and Mathieu Trésarrieu. For Bellego, it’s taken 12 years of hard graft and now he’s back in British speedway. The Frenchman, Dutchman, injured Australian and Scottish family sounds like the start of a retro joke. But it was three weeks that changed the life and career of Bellego back in 2011. A chance conversation between Theo Pijper and the young promising French star escalated within a few days to him staying in Edinburgh for the first time in the UK and then signing for Glasgow after Oz ace Christian Henry broke his collarbone. Bellego, 29, now has an impressive CV, having won the league title with the Tigers in his debut season and then for Swindon in the top flight six years ago. He has also won two World Longtrack Team gold medals and top scored in the Speedway of Nations at Belle Vue as France finished fifth in 2021. love to become the first French champion of the speedway shale and how his Manchester City superstar footie school mate thinks he is “crazy”. Bellego reveals: “When I was a kid I was riding motocross but my dream was speedway, grasstrack and longtrack. In France we have a bit more of the last two. “Actually I was doing pretty good in grasstrack when I met Theo Pijper. He said to me, ‘you should come to the UK’. I immediately said, ‘yes, why not?’. “He invited me to the Phil Morris testimonial in Birmingham. I then went to Glasgow because Theo was racing for them. I practised at Glasgow, Berwick, Ipswich and Scunthorpe. “I remember that about two or three weeks later Christian Henry broke his collarbone at Glasgow. I got a call back from the Tigers and they wanted to give me a chance. On top of that he has raced for four years in the European Championship and been a four-times national champion. But, as he returns to the Premiership for Sheffield, Bellego is still a hugely underrated talent. In our frank interview, the engaging Marmande-born star admits how he’d “Then we went on to win the league at Glasgow, my first year in the UK, so that was pretty good. “It all came about because of that conversation with Theo. That was a big moment in my career. I’d never been to the UK or knew what speedway was like. “Theo and his family welcomed me for one week and everything changed from that time.” Bellego now returns to UK racing with the Yorkshire Tigers after a four-year absence from the Premiership. He joins a terrific Tykes septet which already look like title tilters. He explains his decision to return, adding: “Last season, when I was only doing two leagues, I felt like halfway through I was not racing enough. Of course, we have plenty of practice but that is not competitive. 24 speedway star March 11, 2023
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“With Ekstraliga rules, we could only do one other league. So obviously for me the UK was the first choice. I knew I could have an extra 35 meetings so that was the reason why I wanted to come back. “I’m at the stage of my career when I want to step up to more racing and I’ve seen my schedule for 2023 of about 80 meetings, so I’m very happy. “The only reason I stopped racing in the UK was finance. When you start to ride in Poland, Sweden, England, Denmark, it’s tough. I just decided to concentrate on Europe. “I want to ride twice a week on different types of tracks. In Europe, we pretty much have the same types of circuits. I felt it would be good for myself to be tested on different shapes and sizes again and to improve my racing.” Bellego is a very easy going character with an engaging persona. He laughs off any suggestion when I ask if he should be more highly-regarded for his achievements. He added: “As a French rider, when you go to the UK, it’s like a big thing. When I first came over I wasn’t thinking about where I’d be now. I was just a young guy who wanted to ride my bike. “Obviously it has taken a lot of work to be where I am now. It was a great start for me and the UK took me pretty high in the sport. “I’ve raced four years in the European Championship at a high level, I was in the Ekstraliga last year, this is life, this is how it is. “Maybe people look at my average the last time I raced in the UK with Ipswich. To be honest, I had a tough time with mechanics and stuff like that. “I remember I got sacked by Ipswich on the Friday night and the next night I won the GP qualification round. It shows how speedway is. That’s life. “I’m really happy to be back in the UK, especially at Sheffield. It’s always a track where I love to race. To be good, you have to be on the bike. “I’ve heard some good things from all the boys, especially Doyley (Jason Doyle) who I raced with at Leszno. We had a good conversation about British speedway going back to what it has been like before. “When we were in the Speedway of Nations in Manchester, I was with Bartosz Zmarzlik as the best scorer of the weekend. I was quite proud of that. “Speedway has not been successful for France but we have been working hard. I started from being young and have raced in many leagues. “For sure I would love to be the first French champion in speedway. To be honest, I don’t really look on that side of things. I just do my own thing and work hard to try and reach my goals. “In a few years’ time, I just want to look back and know that I did everything I could to be the best that I could be. “Of course I am still very proud to have been to big meetings in Poland and see a French flag because that has never happened before in speedway. “I hope there is more to come for French riders and that would be good for our nation.” Bellego has spent the winter keeping fit using his favourite pastime on motocross bikes, something he has done a lot with his racing pals Dan Bewley, Jaimon Lidsey and Adam Ellis. He continued: “In motorsport, most riders turn to motocross in their downtime. In my opinion, motocross is the king of motorsport. You jump, you go high, you go left and right. You ride all types of hard, bumpy, soft tracks. It is the king of motorbikes. “I love to ride, it’s a hobby for me. During the winter, it’s the perfect way to keep yourself fit and have good fun. Obviously I train a lot along with being on the bike. “It’s also time with friends in speedway. When we are racing sometimes we don’t even have time to talk to each other. It’s great to have time with the boys.” Bellego also admits that he could have a special mate turning up to watch him at the National Speedway Stadium this season...his old school pal and Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte. He added: “Aymeric and I were at school together so we’ve been friends for some time now. We were in the same class and year. We played football together a lot at school. “Obviously I’m doing my thing and he’s doing his thing. But he actually follows what I do and I see how he is getting on at Manchester City and for France. “I have a very good mate who is his best friend. So he kept saying when I come to race in Manchester that he will come and watch. “So a couple of years ago I was at Belle Vue for Swindon and Aymeric came to watch. We went back to his house afterwards and we had some food. “He was meant to come back for the Speedway of Nations but his schedule was too busy that weekend. I think he will come back to see me this season now. “Every time he watches me, he tells me that ‘you are crazy’. But he also loves bikes. He’s a very humble guy. “I was good at football. I’m not going to say I could sign for a club but I always wanted to race bikes!” Pictures: TAYLOR LANNING and JAREK PABIJAN • David leading Tai Woffinden March 11, 2023 speedway star 25

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New Sheffield star David Bellego reveals his passion to be a French champion and his backing from Manchester City school pal. By PHIL LANNING

OOH LA TIGER!

HE Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysees and The Louvre.

TBut when you swap catwalks for trackwalks, there has been little ooh la la or triumphs for the throttle twisters. In fact, France has remained one of the least fashionable nations over the years.

Paris is the centre of the romance and fashion world, strutting its stuff for the suave and sophisticated.

Yet suddenly they have been starting to show some va va voom with the likes of

David Bellego, Dimitri Berge and Mathieu Trésarrieu. For Bellego, it’s taken 12 years of hard graft and now he’s back in British speedway.

The Frenchman, Dutchman, injured Australian and Scottish family sounds like the start of a retro joke. But it was three weeks that changed the life and career of Bellego back in 2011.

A chance conversation between Theo Pijper and the young promising French star escalated within a few days to him staying in Edinburgh for the first time in the UK and then signing for Glasgow after Oz ace Christian Henry broke his collarbone.

Bellego, 29, now has an impressive CV, having won the league title with the Tigers in his debut season and then for Swindon in the top flight six years ago.

He has also won two World Longtrack Team gold medals and top scored in the Speedway of Nations at Belle Vue as France finished fifth in 2021.

love to become the first French champion of the speedway shale and how his Manchester City superstar footie school mate thinks he is “crazy”.

Bellego reveals: “When I was a kid I was riding motocross but my dream was speedway, grasstrack and longtrack. In France we have a bit more of the last two.

“Actually I was doing pretty good in grasstrack when I met Theo Pijper. He said to me, ‘you should come to the UK’. I immediately said, ‘yes, why not?’.

“He invited me to the Phil Morris testimonial in Birmingham. I then went to Glasgow because Theo was racing for them. I practised at Glasgow, Berwick, Ipswich and Scunthorpe.

“I remember that about two or three weeks later Christian Henry broke his collarbone at Glasgow. I got a call back from the Tigers and they wanted to give me a chance.

On top of that he has raced for four years in the European Championship and been a four-times national champion.

But, as he returns to the Premiership for Sheffield, Bellego is still a hugely underrated talent.

In our frank interview, the engaging

Marmande-born star admits how he’d

“Then we went on to win the league at Glasgow, my first year in the UK, so that was pretty good.

“It all came about because of that conversation with Theo. That was a big moment in my career. I’d never been to the UK or knew what speedway was like.

“Theo and his family welcomed me for one week and everything changed from that time.”

Bellego now returns to UK racing with the Yorkshire Tigers after a four-year absence from the Premiership. He joins a terrific Tykes septet which already look like title tilters.

He explains his decision to return, adding: “Last season, when I was only doing two leagues, I felt like halfway through I was not racing enough. Of course, we have plenty of practice but that is not competitive.

24 speedway star March 11, 2023

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